FIDIC / Legal Reference: FIDIC Red Book Clause 13.1(e)
The removal of work from the contractor’s scope by the Engineer’s instruction. While omissions are a legitimate form of Variation under FIDIC, an employer cannot omit work from the contractor’s scope for the purpose of having it carried out by another contractor — doing so constitutes a breach of contract.
What it means in practice
Clause 13.1(e) includes omissions within the definition of Variations. Legitimate omissions arise where the employer decides that certain work is no longer required at all. The contractor’s entitlement following an omission is the removal of the relevant BOQ item from the contract sum, adjusted for any preliminary costs already incurred.
The critical limitation on the employer’s right to omit work is the anti-deprivation principle: an employer cannot instruct an omission with the purpose of transferring that work to another contractor at a lower price. The remedy for a wrongful omission is the contractor’s lost profit on the omitted work.
Where disputes arise
Employers sometimes use the omission mechanism as a cost-cutting device, removing work from the main contract and re-tendering it separately at a lower price. If challenged, this constitutes a breach of contract. The contractor’s loss includes not just preliminaries incurred but also the profit margin it would have earned.
UAE Context
In UAE infrastructure projects, value engineering exercises sometimes result in substantial omissions being issued late in the project — after the contractor has planned and priced for the full original scope.
Related terms
If your employer has omitted significant work and awarded it to another contractor, this may constitute a breach of contract. e-Basel provides specialist claims advice and expert witness support.
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